November 2 - 6

Spooky Story Day

Dates to Remember

Fri. Nov. 6 - No School

Mon. Nov. 9 - No School  Teacher Institute Day

Nov. 10, 11, 12 - Parent Teacher Conferences

Thurs. Nov. 19 - 2nd Grade Music Concert at Lakeview

Fri. Nov. 20 - End of Trimester

Tues. Nov. 24 - Report Cards go home

                          Grandparents' Day

Nov. 25 - 27 - No School  Thanksgiving Break

Positive Paw Winner - Grant
Estimation Jar Winners - Alyssa and Ariana
New Student of the Week - Jania

Reading - We will be finishing our Friendship unit this week by reading How to be a Friend.  We will discuss "I Messages" and work with the vocabulary words compromise, conflict, cooperation, and resolution.  Students will participate in an activity by role playing a friendship scenario with a small group.

Grammar focus will be on the past tense of irregular verbs.

Reading logs for October are due on Monday, Nov. 2.  Pizza Hut certificates will also be awarded to students who have completed their October reading log.

Math - We will continue our new chapter on two digit subtraction, with and without regrouping.

October 26 - 30

Bus Driver Appreciation Week!  

We are so appreciative of the drivers who carry our children to school every day.  The students made cards and wrote thank you notes to their drivers today!

Dates to Remember                                                                      

                                                   
Fri. Oct. 23 - Family Halloween Party at IDE 6:30 pm
Thurs. Oct. 29 - Spooky Story Day  Wear orange and black and bring a Halloween book from home if you have one
Fri. Oct. 30 - All School Parade 1:00 Everyone is welcome!
Fri. Oct. 30 - Classroom Halloween Party 1:30  Only parents who have signed up to help at the party may attend.
Mon. Nov. 1 - October Reading logs are due

Six Flags Reading Log - Today the students are bringing home a blue reading log from Six Flags.  If you are interested in your child earning a free ticket to Six Flags, this blue reading log must be filled out and returned by Tuesday, Feb. 23.  The books your child reads for their regular 20 minutes each night may also count for the Six Flags log.  If you are not interested in getting a free ticket, no need to return the blue reading log.

Classroom Reading logs are due on Monday, Nov. 2.  The class voted to have a Show and Tell Day for all students who return a completed log!

Parent Teacher Conferences - You should have received an email from me this morning inviting you to sign up for a conference through Sign Up Genius.  If you did not get the email, please let me know.  Conferences will be held on Nov 10, 11, and 12.

Reading - Our focus this week will be Poetry.  We will be reading lots of poetry and learning how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning in a poem.

Vocabulary words will include:  rhyme, rhythm, regular beats, repetition, figurative language, and alliteration.

Grammar focus will be on past tense of irregular verbs.

Math - We will finish working on two digit addition with and without regrouping.  We will learn about estimating sums, and decomposing numbers to add by mental math.  We will then begin subtraction, with and without regrouping.

These can be difficult skills for 2nd graders.  Please check or go over your child's homework with them to be sure they understand the skill.  If you have time, have them explain to you how they got their answers.

Positive Paw Winner - Ava
Estimation Jar Winner - Ariana
New Student of the Week - Emily

October 19 - 23

Thank you to our generous PTO for a delicious pizza lunch!  Thanks also to Mrs. Rizzo, Mrs. Kosinski, and Mrs. Bauer who helped serve pizza, drinks, and cookies!  What a special treat!

These kids LOVE pizza!!

Dates to Remember
Fri. Oct. 23 - Family Halloween Party  6:30 pm
Thurs. Oct. 29 - Spooky Story Day - Wear black and orange and bring a Halloween book from home if you have one
Fri. Oct 30 - All School Parade and Classroom Halloween Parties
Fri. Nov. 6 - No School
Mon. Nov. 9 - No School  Institiute Day

Positive Paw Winner - Ben
New Student of the Week - Olivia
Estimation Jar Winners - Emily and Ken

Halloween costumes - Halloween costumes should be brought to school in a bag and should be easy for your child to put on over clothes.  No toy weapons or make up will be allowed.  Students will be putting costumes on after lunch.

Costume parade will be held outside ~ weather permitting.  The parade will begin at 1:00 and everyone is invited!  Our classroom party will follow at 1:30.  Only those parents who have signed up to help may attend.

Reading - This week we will focus on writing an opinion paragraph.  Students will learn to state their opinion, find reasons that support it, and write a concluding statement.  We will work on editing, and use strong adjectives in our writing this week.  

Grammar focus will be on adjectives.

Math - We will continue to work with 2 digit addition this week, with and without regrouping.  We'll also solve story problems by choosing the best strategy.

Parent Teacher Conferences - Conferences will be held on November 10, 11, and 12.  You will receive an invitation email to sign up (through Sign Up Genius) next Friday, Oct. 23.

October 12 - 16

Dates to Remember                                                                   

Mon. Oct. 12 - No School  Columbus Day
Wed. Oct. 14 - Pizza Lunch in the Room
Fri. Oct. 23 - Family Halloween Party 6:30 pm
Fri. Oct. 30 -  Spooky Story Day
                      All School Parade and Classroom Halloween Party

Progress Notes came home today.  Please check your child's home folder, sign and return the note on Tuesday.

Magazine Drive Pizza Party!
Our class won the prize for having the most participation!  40% of our class participated in bringing in magazine subscriptions!  Thank you to all who participated!  Thank you to our PTO for surprising us with a pizza lunch!

Our pizza lunch will be on Wednesday, Oct. 14.  Cheese pizza and a juice box will be served.  If your child would prefer another lunch, they can bring it, and of course celebrate with us in the room.  Thank you again PTO!

Reading - This week we will be reading Tarra and Bella, a nonfiction story about an elephant and a dog who became best friends.  We'll finish our research writing and also focus on the comprehension strategy of using context clues.

Grammar focus will be adjectives this week.

Math - We'll continue to look at 2 digit addition this week.  We'll begin with mental math, then model problems with and without regrouping, and use symbols to compare numbers.

Estimation Jar Winners - Emily and Alyssa
New Student of the Week - Grant
Positive Paw Winner - Ken

October 5 - 9

Dates to Remember

Tues. Oct. 6 - Fall Picture Day
          Please return payment envelope or pay online
Wed. Oct 7 - Literacy Night at Ide
Fri. Oct. 9 - Early Dismissal  11:35
                   Progress Notes sent home with all students
Mon. Oct. 12 - No School  Columbus Day
Fri. Oct. 23 - PTO Family Halloween Party
Fri. Oct. 30 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Reading
Our focus this week be on collecting research and learning about text features.  Students will be researching either hippos or the Aldabra Tortoise (both characters in Owen and Mzee).  We'll discuss author's message and relate it to the essential question, "How can stories help us learn life lessons?"

We will focus on shared research.  The students will pull important information from a text and put those facts into an expository paragraph.

Reading Logs - Almost every student returned their September reading log and was able to enjoy a fun lunch in the room!  We will start all over again this month and work toward a new reward as well as a Pizza Hut certificate!  Nice job everyone!

Grammar focus will be on adjectives and action verbs this month.

Math
This week we will focus on place value and two digit addition.  Continue to work on math facts at home.  The students have many fun apps on their ipads to help with this important skill.

Estimation Jar Winners - Ava, Kate, and Jake
New Student of the Week - David
Positive Paw Winner - Olivia

Sept. 28 - Oct. 2

Dates to Remember...
Sat. Sept. 26 - Team 66 Family Day
Tues. Sept. 29 - Last Magazine Drive turn in day
Wed. Sept. 30 - Go For the Goal Day * Wear your football tshirt/jersey
Thurs. Oct. 1 - Reading logs are due
Tues. Oct. 6 - Fall Picture Day
Wed. Oct. 7 - Literacy Night
Fri. Oct. 9 - Early Dismissal  11:35
Mon. Oct. 12 - No School  Columbus Day

Reading
Reading logs are due on or before Thurs. Oct. 1.  Our class voted to have lunch in the room as their reward!  All students who return completed logs will be able to have lunch in the room and watch a fun movie.

Thank You for filling out the Name Jar information this week.  We had some wonderful conversations about the origin of the students' names!  Students designed their own name stamp and wrote in their journals about their names.  

This week we will read the text, Owen and Mzee.  It is a story about 2 animals that formed a bridge of friendship, that also helped them live happier lives.  Discussion will focus around author's purpose and we'll talk about using context clues to find the meaning of unknown words in a text.  

Grammar lessons will focus on plural nouns this week.    

Math  this week we will continue to work with story problems and we'll also review addition strategies.  Our unit 1 test will be on Wednesday.  Our next unit will focus on place value.  

Our second 5 minute addition and subtraction timings will take place this week.  Please encourage your child to practice thier math facts at home with one of the fact fluency apps or Xtra Math.  
   
Estimation Jar Winners - Sara and Ben
New Student of the Week - Aili
Positive Paw Winner - Jania

Have a great fall weekend!

September 21 - 25

Fall is in the air!                                                                  

Math - We are continuing to work on addition strategies, odd and even numbers, number lines and patterns.  We've been adding lots of activities to our Math Work Places to help us practice addition strategies and subitizing.

Next week we will focus on stubtraction strategies and using our number racks to help solve story problems.

Reading - This week we will read do a close read of Weird Friends:  Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom.  We will read to determine the main purpose of a text and also discuss how specific images in a book help to clarify the text.  Next we will read, The Name Jar.  This story is about a little girl who recently moved to America from Korea and is getting used to a new school.  Students are bringing home a "questionaire" today.  Please take a few minutes to answer the questions relating to your son/daughter's name.  We will be discussing our names next week and this information will be helpful.

Literacy Night - Our first Literacy Night of the year will be on Wed. October 7.  The deadline to sign up is today, Sept. 18.  Follow the link below if you are interested.  The evening is for both parents and kids!

Literacy Night

Spelling - Our first spelling test will be next Friday, Sept. 25.

BOOK FAIR - I hope everyone enjoyed the Book Fair and Ice Cream Social last evening!  Thank you to the Hines, Durkin, Spencer, and Flannery families for donating money for new classroom books!  I was able to purchase lots of fun books for us to read!  The kids were SO excited to see them on Friday morning!  Thanks also to those parents who volunteered their time to scoop ice cream and sell books.  We so appreciate you!  Thank You!

Magazine Drive turn in dates - Tuesday, Sept 22
                                             Thurs. Sept. 24
                                                                    Tues. Sept. 29

IPads - We have had great fun this week as we have looked at apps to use during our Reading and Math blocks.  The students received earbuds which they will be keeping at school.  Please support us by not installing apps from home.  The ipads are intended for instructional use only. 

Positive Paw Winner - Alyssa

New Student of the Week - Ariana

Estimation Jar Winner - Emily

Dates to Remember
Thurs. Sept. 24 - Early Dismissal  11:35
Sat. Sept. 26 -TEAM66 Fall Family Day and BBQ
Mon. Sept. 28 - Art to Remember artwork is due
Tues. Oct. 6 - Picture Day at Ide
Wed. Oct. 7 - Literacy Night Daily 5 Night at Ide